1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an information storage medium, and more specifically to the reproduction of DVD disc having a video zone in which picture information and associated sound information are mainly recorded and an audio zone in which sound information is mainly recorded.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There is known a video DVD (i.e., a disc in conformity with the DVD-Video Standard) on which picture information such as movies are recorded. A video DVD is broadly used as an information storage medium for picture information such as movies because of its large storage capacity. Further, there has been developed an audio DVD (i.e., a disc in conformity with the Audio-DVD Standard) adapted to record, not picture information such as movies, but only audio information such as music. A single audio DVD can record audio information corresponding to plural CDs (Compact Disc) because of its large storage capacity. Also, in addition to picture information of a movie, audio information of a soundtrack CD for the movie can be recorded together on a single audio DVD.
In such circumstance, it is forecasted that a so-called compatible DVD player, having an ability to reproduce both audio DVD and video DVD, will be developed and used in the near future. However, simply recording video information and audio information on a single disc according to the DVD-Video Standard and the DVD-Audio Standard may restrict desired various manners of reproduction by the compatible DVD player. Specifically, the following drawbacks are presumable. First, since only the navigation information (i.e., a control information used to reproduce information) for video information is recorded in the video zone according to the DVD-Video Standard, only the audio information recorded in the video zone normally cannot be reproduced separately from the associated video information. In addition, the reproduction is limited to such manners that titles in the audio zone are reproduced and then titles in the video zone are reproduced, or in the reversed order. Namely, it is not possible to control the reproduction of all titles recorded in the video zone and audio zone of a single disc in an intermixed manner.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an information storage medium including a video zone and an audio zone, which can be reproduced by a compatible player with taking the best advantage of the information storage medium and the compatible player.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an information reproduction apparatus that enables such appropriate reproduction of the information storage medium.
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information storage medium including: a video zone for recording audio/video information including video information and audio information associated with the video information; an audio zone for recording audio information; first navigation information for a video player which can reproduce the audio/video information; second navigation information for an audio player which can reproduce the audio information in the video zone and the audio information in the audio zone; and third navigation information for a compatible player which can reproduce both the audio/video information and the audio information, wherein the first navigation information, the second navigation information and the third navigation information are recorded separately from each other.
In the storage medium thus configured, different navigation information are prepared for different kinds of video players, and each player performs the reproduction based on the dedicated navigation information. Therefore, the video player can perform reproduction with taking the possible best advantage of its ability.
Preferably, the first navigation information may define a reproduction manner of the audio/video information from the video zone, the second navigation information may define a reproduction manner of the audio information from the audio zone and a reproduction manner of only the audio information from the video zone, and the third navigation information may define a reproduction manner of the audio information from the audio zone and a reproduction manner of the audio/video information from the video zone.
In a preferred embodiment, one or more title, which is a unit of reproduction, is recorded on the storage medium, and the title is classified into audio titles formed by the reproduction of the audio information in the audio zone and video titles formed by the reproduction of the audio/video information in the video zone. Thus, a plurality of titles can be defined in the same storage medium in such a manner that they can be reproduced by the players of different type in different reproduction manners.
Preferably, the video titles may include at least one dual-use title in which the audio/video information is reproduced by the video player and the compatible player and the audio information in the audio/video information is reproduced by the audio player.
The first navigation information may indicate a recording position on the storage medium of reproduction control information used for reproducing the audio/video information in the video title, the second navigation information may indicate a recording position on the storage medium of reproduction control information used for reproducing the audio information in the audio title and indicates a recording position on the storage medium of reproduction control information used for reproducing the audio information in the dual-use title, and the third navigation information may indicate a recording position on the storage medium of reproduction control information used for reproducing the audio/video information in the video title including the dual-use title and indicates a recording position on the storage medium of reproduction control information used for reproducing the audio information in the audio title. Thereby, each kind of player refers to the dedicated navigation information to obtain the reproduction control information, and reproduces recorded information according to the reproduction control information thus obtained.
The first navigation information may be recorded in the video zone, and the second and the third navigation information may be recorded in the audio zone. Thus, information recorded in the zones of different recording format can be managed separately. The reproduction control information of the video title may be recorded in the video zone, and the reproduction control information of the audio title may be recorded in the audio zone. Thus, the titles and corresponding reproduction control information can be recorded and managed together, and this facilitates the control in reproduction.
In a preferred embodiment, the reproduction control information of the dual-use title includes the reproduction control information for the audio player which is recorded in the audio zone and the reproduction control information for the compatible player which is recorded in the video zone. This enables reproducing the dual-use titles by any one of the audio player, the video player and the compatible player.
With respect to the video title which is a dual-use title, the reproduction control information of the dual-use title which is specified by the third navigation information and the reproduction control information of the video title which is specified by the first navigation information may be recorded at an identical. With respect to the audio title, the reproduction control information of the audio title which is specified by the third navigation information and the reproduction control information of the audio title which is specified by the second navigation information may be recorded at an identical position. Accordingly, common reproduction control information can be used for different navigation information.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information reproduction apparatus which reproduces information from an information storage medium including: a video zone for recording audio/video information including video information and audio information associated with the video information; an audio zone for recording audio information; first navigation information for a video player which can reproduce the audio/video information; second navigation information for an audio player which can reproduce the audio information in the video zone and the audio information in the audio zone; and third navigation information for a compatible player which can reproduce both the audio/video information and the audio information, wherein the first navigation information, the second navigation information and the third navigation information are recorded separately from each other, the reproduction apparatus including: an identifying unit for identifying the apparatus as one of the video player, the audio player and the compatible player; a selecting unit for selecting one of the first navigation information, the second navigation information and the third navigation information based on the identification by the identifying unit; and a reproducing unit for reproducing recorded information from the storage medium based on the navigation information selected by the selecting unit.
In accordance with the information reproduction apparatus, the identifying unit identifies its own type, and the selecting unit selects the navigation information adapted to that type of player. The reproducing unit reproduces the recorded information based on the navigation information dedicated to the player of that type. Therefore, each player can reproduce information with advantageously using its ability.
The nature, utility, and further features of this invention will be more clearly apparent from the following detailed description with respect to preferred embodiment of the invention when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings briefly described below.